Favorite Quotes:

My news editor is twenty-four and skinny, and his crazy hair makes his head appear too big for his body. “He looks like a lollipop that’s been left in someone’s pocket,”

There’d been a sharp frost every morning for a week, and the pebbles on the beach had become lethal icy marbles underfoot. Elise had noticed that most of the Bluetits— the women she saw plunging in daily for a dawn swim— had put their swimsuits away for the moths to devour.

“You’re hardly an advert for domestic bliss!… The first time we met, you were devising ways to murder your husband.” “I’m still working on it. Anyway, I’m not talking about Ted— you need a real man.”

Noel Clayton’s face darkened to a shade an interior designer might call Imminent Coronary.

I look at her bitter, thin face lit up by hate. It never fails to astonish me how people can reshape realities to suit.

My Review:

This was a tensely wound and compelling tale told from multiple POVs, which I always enjoy. Fiona Barton is a master storyteller and I quickly fell into her characters’ itchy/scratchy vortex. The insightfully observant narratives, banter, amusing snark and verbal exchanges, and perceptive inner musings kept the little pea in my brain whirling like a tornado. I now must amass her entire body of work to enjoy more of the same.

You Will Never Be Me
by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Influencer Meredith Lee didn’t teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone blame her for doing a little stalking? Can anyone blame her for swiping one of Aspen’s kids iPads and accessing all of her social media accounts? Yes, she then starts tweaking things here and there, showing up in Aspen’s place for meetings with potential sponsors, but she’s only taking back what she deserves—what should have been hers.

Meanwhile, Aspen has no idea why her perfect life is falling apart. Sponsors are dropping her, fellow influencers are ghosting her, and even her own husband seems to find her repulsive. If she doesn’t find out who’s behind everything, she might just lose it all. But when her old mom-tor Meredith goes missing, Aspen’s world is upended and mysterious threats begin to arrive—but she won’t let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

it’s just a fact of life that people adore the knowledge of having something that others don’t. If there was no pleasure to be taken from exclusivity, then the rich wouldn’t be so into their private country clubs. There is joy from knowing you are blessed while others are not; if you deny it, you’ll only be lying.

Sometimes, I look at Liv and I hate her because the world hasn’t broken her yet.

It was like I walked into a stark, white room filled with nothing but a tiny, high-pitched sound. A room of cold, quiet, murderous rage.

Oh my god. Spare me the Gaslighting 101, okay? None of that ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ crap. No, you need to be sorry that you made me feel that way.

My Review:

This clever tale was full of gasp-producing zigs and eye-popping zags. I had a hard time putting my Kindle down and felt like hissing at any interruption to my rapt perusal. I greedily devoured it like a guilty pleasure, but the ending left me pondering, contemplating, and debating for quite some time about how I should feel about the outcome. Hmm… What does that say about me?

The characters were all rather vile and selfish creatures, who were deliciously and insightfully detailed with well-honed and witty narratives of their inner musings and self-serving observations and justifications.

You Will Never Be Me was my virgin voyage with this crafty scribe and I instantly fell into an oddly compelling vortex of an online Stepford-type wife. Ms. Sutano has strong word voodoo, mad skills, and a new acolyte. I covetously want to amass all her scribblings.

Greta Davies, the features editor at a women’s magazine, is accomplished and successful. That is, in all areas except her love life.

Determined to help, Greta’s boss – and friend – secretly enlists the help of the Ever After Agency, and sets out to make her dreams come true.

Work-obsessed Greta is nothing if not stubborn, so it’ll take some creative thinking, which leads to a lightbulb moment: a new column focused on dating in the city.

With date after disastrous date, things are not looking rosy for Greta. But little does Greta know, the perfect man has been there all along. Will she realise it’s more than friendship before it’s too late?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Blimey, if I keep on like this, I’ll get a call from Disney asking for the rights to my life story for their next animated feature. The Thirty-something Princess and the Frogs of London coming to a cinema near you.

I don’t like it when people use the word ‘lost’ to mean someone’s loved one has died. Poor Ian didn’t lose his wife– they weren’t shopping in IKEA. He didn’t misplace her amongst the dinglehoppers and snarfblatts. She passed away.

I will lampoon him so severely, Taylor Swift could mine my article for lyrics.

Dreamboat? Where are you getting these words? Do you have a time machine or something? Are you frequenting the 1960s?

My Review:

This was a fun and cleverly amusing read that is the third in a popular series but I found it to have strong legs and quite capable of standing and dancing on its own. Although, it also has me wanting to track down and read all the previous installments. I enjoy this smooth storyteller’s wry wit and sneaky hits of humor.

About the Author

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I’m a writer, traveler, and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list. I love exploring new places, outdoor adventures, and eating and drinking like a local when I travel, and many of my travel adventures have found homes in my novels. I’m also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover, and a coffee snob.

I am represented by Lina Langlee of The North Literary Agency.

Escape to the glittering lakes and pretty stone villages of the Lake District, where warm bright summer evenings are just around the corner, the bees are buzzing in the hedgerows, and village nurse Ottilie Oakcroft is beginning to realise that her second chance at true love isn’t smooth sailing…

Ottilie Oakcroft can’t imagine living anywhere but the village of Thimblebury. Since moving there after her husband’s death, the villagers have welcomed her with open arms, and it’s been a long time since she’s felt this happy. Another reason for the sparkle in her eyes is her blossoming romance with Heath, who showed her that second chances at love can happen.

But when a chance meeting with Heath’s glamorous ex-wife Mila sparks a terrible argument between the pair, and with Ottilie’s patients keeping her too busy to repair the cracks in their relationship, things begin to feel a little shaky. Especially when Simon, a handsome new GP with dark eyes and broad shoulders, arrives in Thimblebury, and Heath shows a jealous side that Ottilie has never seen before…

Ottilie knows how lucky she is to have found Heath but when she discovers that Mila has been secretly visiting Thimblebury she fears the worst. Heath tries to reassure her but why did he keep Mila’s visits a secret? Did Ottilie make a mistake when she opened her fragile heart or is she letting the hurt from her past stand in the way of their future?

A beautiful romantic escapist read about healing from past hurts and learning to love again. Fans of Jessica Redland, Shari Low and Jo Bartlett will be transported by New Dreams for the Village Nurse.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

The millions of little acts of kindness that happen every day are what makes the world tick over, not the grand gestures that everyone notices.

‘…it might sound to someone who didn’t know that you were calling me a lush.’ Ottilie laid a hand on her heart. ‘I’d never do that! I mean, you can sink more booze than a navy but that’s beside the point…’

My Review:

I adore Tilly Tennant and have reveled in every one of her engaging and nimbly penned tales that I’ve been lucky enough to pick up. This volume was an easy to follow, entertaining, and thoughtfully written continuation of the village nurse series, and I delighted in book two as much as the first installment.

I enjoy this clever scribe’s wry wit and authentic village characters. Her descriptions of the village denizens and encounters are as humorous as they are defining and I often feel as if I could easy recognize the inhabitants of her stories if I met them on the street. I’m looking forward to more of these gently endearing tales.

About the Author

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From a young age, Tilly Tennant was convinced that she was destined for the stage.  Once she realised she wasn’t actually very good at anything that would put her on the stage, she started to write stories instead. There were lots of terrible ones, like The Pet Rescue Gang (aged eight), which definitely should not see the light of day ever again. Thankfully, her debut novel, Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was not one of those, and since it hit the Amazon best seller lists she hasn’t looked back. Born in Dorset, she currently lives in Staffordshire with her husband, two daughters, three guitars, four ukuleles, two violins and a kazoo.

 

Package Makes Perfect
(Green Valley Heroes #6)
by Lauren Connolly

When a man cheats, don’t go postal. Date a postman.

Robin Dunn is used to dealing with egotistical men. After years in the military and working in the male-dominated field of aviation mechanics, Robin thought she could tell the good guys from the bad. She even moved to the small town of Green Valley for a man she planned to build a life with. So why is that guy butt-naked on their couch with another woman, fondling her chest like he found himself a set of stress balls?

Not one to run away, Robin decides to stake a claim on her new home and dole out some much-needed revenge. In a twist of luck, she convinces Arthur Kraut, her loser ex’s cousin, and the town’s grumpy mail carrier, to agree to her fake relationship scheme. Probably because she offers to help the guy with his lady troubles through copious amounts of PDA.

After a lifetime of disappointments, Robin can’t help noticing how Arthur always delivers when she needs him. Too bad she’s done with needing men. Doesn’t matter that kissing Arthur has her thinking other, dirtier thoughts. All she wants is to get revenge on her ex, fix airplanes, and not fall for a man who has his heart set on someone else…

‘Package Makes Perfect’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #6 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

pain machine… That’s what this grinding mess in my chest feels like. A bunch of rusty gears and parts turning and twisting and spitting out noxious fumes of loathing and anger and despair.

At some point, I’m going to sit him down and ask what stupid ghost possessed his body to make him think this was a good idea.

I’m trying to keep from making assholery a family trait.

She’s not a put on a sweet voice and bless your heart kind of woman.

I promise not to bring up menstruation around your family. I know how scary tampons are to you big, tough men.

No time with you is a waste. When I’m with you, I’m living.

My Review:

I relished every well-chosen and artfully arranged word within this amusing and insightfully written tale. Lauren Connolly is a recent discovery for me through the Smartypants brand and I am deeply grateful she took this project on. I am enamored with her clever observations and endearing and realistically damaged characters. I smirked and giggled-snorted my way through this one and am looking forward to her next contribution.

When she’s ghosted by yet another Tinder match, Leighton swears off dating for life. Who needs apps and blind dates when she has the perfect-in-every-way (apart from being fictional) heroes of her beloved romance novels?

That night Leigh finds a second-hand book on her TBR pile, which transports her to the small-town of Lakeville Hills, where the heroines wear shorty-shorts and the men drink bourbon. And as Leigh drifts off to sleep, she dreams of billionaire cowboy Killian St Clair, who could win a gold medal for smoldering and bicep flexing.

For a while, Leigh finds it easier to stomach misogynistic supervisors, newly coupled friends, and extravagant bridesmaid duties knowing she can return to Lakeville Hills each evening. Until one day, she wakes up to find she’s brought a bit of Lakeville Hills back with the impossible sexy and entirely implausible Killian St Clair is in her apartment.

Now Leigh must help Killian navigate the real world. But as she gets to know the man behind the trope, can she keep her heart safe, or does she risk falling in love with her book boyfriend in real life?

Favorite Quotes:

Any respectable romance heroine has to be a hot mess for her grand meet-cute. Maybe that’s where I’m going wrong. I should’ve come here un-showered and wearing granny underwear. Nice clothes equal no Mr. Right.

“What’s a cinnamon roll hero?” “A golden retriever kind of sweet guy in a romance novel. Ideally, he’d be a veterinarian, a middle-grade teacher, or a single dad. The cinnamon roll is goofily hot, possibly even a hot nerd. He has some heartbreak in his past but has never stopped being open to love. And he’s spectacular in bed, of course.”

Spotty looks as threatening as an overcooked noodle.

And I know we all love it when men growl possessively in romance novels, but trust me, in real life, it’s beyond ridiculous. “Stop it,” I tell him firmly. “You sound like a lawnmower with indigestion.”

I’m sure an ECG would show a severe case of arrhythmia because that poor organ is hammering against my ribs like it’s trying to break free.

My Review:

I have to give proper kudos to an author who can cleverly make fun of overworked romance tropes while deftly employing every single one of them. I fell into this one head first and didn’t want to come back out. Camilla Isley has honed and perfected her craft so well, her unique arrangements of words produced a smooth scrolling of sharp visuals across my gray matter as I perused her latest missive. I adore her wit and covet her skills.